Woman sentenced in Florida resort defrauding case

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 20, 2008

A Texas woman accused of fleecing money from the Florida Gulf Coast resort where she worked was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, officials said.

Susan Gail Ray, 52, of Bridgeport, also was ordered to pay more than $5.7 million in restitution to the Gasparilla Inn, of Boca Raton, Fla., the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Ray pleaded guilty in November to one count of money laundering. She admitted defrauding the resort while she worked as the Gasparilla Inn's comptroller, prosecutors said.

An indictment alleged Ray bought a Texas ranch and livestock with the more than $6 million siphoned from the resort between October 2002 and January 2007.

Ray was responsible for calculating payroll and transferring the necessary funds from Gasparilla Inn's general account to its payroll account.

Prosecutors alleged she submitted payroll totals to the resort and after receiving approval, drafted new fund transfer forms with an inflated payroll amount. Ray submitted the doctored forms and later wired the excess funds into her own accounts.

Ray is in federal custody. A message left for her attorney Friday was not immediately returned.